The present invention relates to scheduling, and more specifically to rescheduling manufacturing releases. Advanced Planning Systems (APS) are often used in planning production starts, interplant shipments, customer shipments, and substitutions. These APS systems often use Linear Programming (LP) techniques to allocate limited capacity and material resources efficiently given a prioritized statement of demand.
When there is not enough capacity in later time periods to support demand just-in-time, a conventional APS will attempt to build some product early in order to satisfy the demand on time. A problem exists in that conventional APS may build the wrong product early. That is, the product built early may be that used in satisfying demands which have a relatively high probability of perishing at a later time. However, it would be preferable if the product built early is used to satisfy demand which has a high probability of being consumed. For example, if product X is being released into the manufacturing line to satisfy a forecasted demand and product Y is being released to satisfy a firm customer order, then it would be better to build product Y early rather than product X since product Y is for a firm customer order while product X is merely associated with forecast demand. Conventional APS systems do not ensure the right product is built early.